Office of Open Records Counsel Archives - Page 7 of 7 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

14 Apr, 2014

Does the public have a right to see police incident reports?

By Deborah Fisher|2017-01-06T15:27:02-06:00April 14, 2014|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, crime records, Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: AG opinion, crime records, Elisha Hodge, incident reports, OORC|2 Comments

A city editor called me recently, wanting to know what records his local police department was required to make public. Seems like a simple question, but in Tennessee, it has become anything but that. The city editor’s staff was dealing with a new public information officer at the police department who was declining to turn over some incident reports because of their sensitive nature. The newspaper had a good relationship with the police chief and knew his track record was to be as transparent as possible about crime in the community. The city editor hopes the matter is now resolved, with the police chief’s guidance that incident reports should not [...]

TCOG improves public access in its first 10 years

By Deborah Fisher|2014-09-10T09:01:26-05:00December 8, 2013|Categories: Office of Open Records Counsel, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Elisha Hodge, OORC, TCOG news|0 Comments

By Deborah Fisher, Executive Director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government celebrated a milestone last year. It turned 10 years old. As its new executive director, I spent the first couple weeks on the job researching the group’s activities, and the accomplishments have been impressive. TCOG was founded 10 years ago to improve government transparency in Tennessee.Image courtesy of Stuart Miles of FreeDigitalPhotos.net Those who were in on the ground floor – including the Tennessee Press Association, the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, The Commercial Appeal, The Tennessean, Knoxville News Sentinel and the Chattanooga Times Free Press – should be proud. The support of [...]

Open Records Counsel gets increasing number of inquiries

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-19T09:29:21-05:00December 5, 2013|Categories: Office of Open Records Counsel|Tags: Elisha Hodge, OORC|1 Comment

Reported at Dec. 2, 2013 meeting By Deborah Fisher Executive Director, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government The number of inquiries and complaints to Tennessee’s Office of Open Records Counsel is pacing ahead of last year, with three more months to go. The office answers questions from citizens, government entities and media about public records and open meetings law, and is authorized by law to informally mediate and assist in resolving disputes concerning open records. Last year, for the period between March 2012 to February 2013, Tennessee’s Open Records Counsel Elisha Hodge received 1,408 inquiries or complaints. By the end of November, her office had gotten 1,484, already a [...]